The Dark Side of Sleeping with Makeup On

As I discussed in a previous episode, it’s really not the end of world, and nothing bad will happen if, on occasion, you sleep with your makeup on. That’s because the additional contact time that the makeup has on your skin really isn’t that different from the amount of time that it’s on during the day. But a viewer pointed out, that if you repeatedly sleep with your makeup on, there can be some problems. And in particular, you can get conjunctivitis and, that’s because, when you sleep, your face, of course, rubs against your pillow. As it rubs, it moves things around, particularly if you have left your makeup on, and that makeup can then be moved near and even into your eye. When that happens, you get burning and irritation and the appearance of redness. It’s called conjunctivitis and it looks just like pink eye. In addition to that, if you regularly sleep with your makeup on, you’re going to be rubbing your makeup again against your pillow and that pillow is going to push it into the pores of your skin. If you push it into the pores enough, you’re going to cause some clogging and that clogging may promote acne breakouts. So again, if you sleep with your makeup on on occasion, it’s not a big deal, but don’t make a regular habit out of it.

While sleeping with your makeup on every once in a while isn't a problem, doing this repeatedly isn't a good idea. Dr. Schultz explains what can happen if you sleep with your makeup on, especially often.